Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced today she’ll be stepping down from her post early in 2013. Under Jackson, the Environmental Protection Agency has made some major progress towards protecting America’s wildlife, public health and natural resources:

During her tenure, the administration finalized a new rule doubling fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks. The requirements will be phased in over 13 years and eventually require all new vehicles to average 54.5 mpg, up from 28.6 mpg at the end of last year.

She shepherded another rule that forces power plants to control mercury and other toxic pollutants for the first time. Previously, the nation’s coal- and oil-fired power plants had been allowed to run without addressing their full environmental and public health costs.

Jackson also helped persuade the administration to table the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would have brought carbon-heavy tar sands oil from Canada to refineries in Texas.

“Administrator Jackson has been one of the most effective leaders in the history of the Environmental Protection Agency. Her legacy will be cleaner air for all Americans, and she has set the Environmental Protection Agency on a new course to tackle climate change by establishing the first standards to reduce carbon pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes,” Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said today. “We thank her for her exceptional service and wish her well.”

Who might President Barack Obama nominate to follow Jackson as the next EPA administrator? The Houston Chronicle’s Jennifer Dlouhy has a rundown of the top candidates.

On Monday, March 26, Jaime Matyas, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of National Wildlife Federation and I, Senior Manager of Campus Ecology at National Wildlife Federation, had the pleasure of attending a briefing at the White House on Women and the Environment hosted by Lisa Jackson, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. More than 40 female leaders in the environmental field, or related fields such as public health, attended.

The morning session was full of brilliant, energizing women from the EPA and other offices within the U.S. government talking about their roles and the continued need for women to take an active role in protecting our natural resources.

Highlights include:
Administrator Jackson states that, “it takes action, bold action to make things happen. We are counting on women to help with this work [protecting the environment] – environmental hazards that impact both women’s health and children’s health.”

Panel discussions included EPA staff working on a variety of issues including water, air and working in the areas of finance and enforcement. Nancy Stoner, Acting Assistant Administrator in the Office of Water, also known as the “water lady” spotlighted a few water-related efforts of the EPA including the Mexico Border Programwhich ensures safe drinking water and waste water services for border residents both in the U.S. and Mexico; there is an estimated 8.5 million border residents.

Gina McCarthy, Assistant Administrator in the Office of Air & Radiation said that the Clean Air Act(CAA) is the most successful and effective health (and environmental) law in the U.S; the CAA covers pollutants such as lead and ozone, just to name a few. McCarthy said that the regulations are important, but “it’s not just about regulations, it’s also about changing behaviors.” Education and communication are key for the American public to understand how their daily choices impact the environment.

The briefing on Women & the Environment was a gathering to celebrate and acknowledge Women’s History Month – March.

Recently, tribal leaders, landowners, hunters, anglers, conservationists, business owners and government leaders gathered in Washington, D.C. for the White House Conservation Conference. Tourism and outdoor recreation, coastal conservation, river restoration and hunting and fishing were important topics of discussion, as well as other key conservation issues. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar also attended the event.

President Barack Obama addressed the crowd, stating that, “effective conservation is about more than protecting the environment, it’s about strengthening the economy.” The President also highlighted the historic significance of conservation within the United States. He spoke about the value of protecting “the incredible bounty we’ve been blessed with” for current and future generations of Americans by placing conservation at the forefront of the national agenda. You can hear more of President Obama’s thoughts on conservation by watching the conference video above.

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized new air pollution standards that will result in the first-ever national limits on the amount of mercuryspewing from the nation’s coal-fired power plants.

Twenty plus years in the making, the new pollution limits on power plants will cut mercury emissions by 91%, reduce acid gas emissions 91%, and significantly cut arsenic, lead and nickel emissions.

The report warned of mercury’s potency as a neurotoxin that can cause neurological and brain damage at low levels in people and reproductive hazards in wildlife.

Excerpt from NWF’s 1999 mercury report:

The Clean the Rain Campaign…will press for the control and eventual elimination of mercury emissions that are contaminating the rain. It will call for the implementation of the following actions…

Coal-fired power plants must cut and eventually eliminate their combustion of coal (a major source of mercury, as well as smog and acid rain-producing pollutants).

New Rules Will Protect Children, Improve Health, Create Jobs

Each year, EPA’s new air toxic pollution rules will prevent 11,000 thousand of premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, 130,000 cases of childhood asthma and 6,300 cases of acute bronchitis. And it will prevent mercury exposure to children that can adversely affect their developing brains – including effect on their ability to walk, talk, read and learn.

The rules will also provide employment for thousands. The updating of older power plants with modern air pollution control technology will support 46,000 new short-term construction jobs and 8,000 long-term utility jobs.

And as NWF has documented, the new pollution rules are also a huge present to wildlife. Mercury pollution belching out of power plants settles in our lakes and rivers where microscopic organisms convert the inorganic mercury into methylmercury. This form of mercury accumulates up the food chain in fish and then other into other animals when they eat fish. As a result, species from the common loon to the river otter to the Florida panther are impacted by mercury.

Over the last year, thousands of NWF members and supporters have continued the campaign started in 1999. They have attended public hearings, signed postcards, made phone calls, and sent over 50,000 messages supporting the EPA’s new efforts on mercury and pushing back against polluters attempts in Congress to stop these new air pollution protections.

So join NWF as we thank the EPA for taking action to protect your kids and wildlife from the dangers of mercury and toxic air pollution. Together, we can all breathe a little easier.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2011/12/new-mercury-limits-put-nwf-in-the-holiday-spirit/feed/639056Obama Commits to Tackle Carbon Pollution in 2012http://blog.nwf.org/2011/11/obama-commits-to-tackle-carbon-pollution-in-2012/
http://blog.nwf.org/2011/11/obama-commits-to-tackle-carbon-pollution-in-2012/#commentsFri, 18 Nov 2011 15:03:51 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/?p=34563Yesterday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson announced plans for establishing new carbon pollution limits on the nation’s power plants. This is good news. Just last month NWF had voiced serious concerns that these efforts were going to be delayed indefinitely. Significantly, the new schedule gets the Obama Administration back on track to tackle the nation’s biggest source of air pollution that causes climate change.

EPA' Administrator Jackson (image emagazine.com)

These new rules will utilize section 111 of the Clean Air Act. This provision of law requires EPA to establish federal air pollution standards to control air pollutants from stationary sources (read here coal-fired power plants) which cause or contribute significantly to the air pollution that harms our health and wildlife. The standards are also intended to promote use of the most modern air pollution control technologies so our power plants stay up to date.

Right now, our nation’s power plants can belch carbon dioxide pollution into our air without any limits. A recent piece in the New York Review of Books by Yale economist William Nordhaus aptly describes why it is urgent that we address this source of carbon pollution:

[The] burning coal is very dirty, releasing both conventional pollutants and greenhouse gases. Per unit of energy, coal emits 27 percent more CO2 than oil and 78 percent more CO2 than natural gas. . . . In the aggregate, the emissions of CO2 from coal-fired electricity- generating facilities are the largest single industrial source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. They make up one third of all emissions in an industry that constitutes only about one half of one percent of the US economy! Moreover, studies indicate that reducing coal-fired generation is the least expensive way for the US to reduce its carbon emissions in the near term (emphasis added).

The new pollution limits will be established into two parts. In January, the administration will propose limits that any new power plant must meet before it can be constructed. NWF expects that the critically important second part of the standards – new carbon pollution limits on the nation’s existing power plants – will be proposed later in the Spring of 2012.

This is where you come in! The public will have an opportunity to (and needs to) comment in support of setting strong air pollution standards that reduce carbon pollution. Polluters will surely go all out to push back on this effort and we need to stop them in their tracks.

We had a great Day 1 at the 7th Annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference in Detroit, where hundreds of Great Lakes advocates, scientists, policy makers and community leaders have gathered to help make Great Lakes restoration successful.

Live Feed Recording from the Great Lakes Town Hall, Featuring EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and other U.S. and Canadian Leaders

Conference participants including staff from NWF’s Great Lakes Regional Center are sharing their photos, blogs, video clips and responses to the discussions and sessions on how to protect and restore the Great Lakes–the incredible “freshwater seas” that hold one-fifth of the world’s surface freshwater.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2011/10/great-lakes-restoration-day-1-in-detroit/feed/033592Healing Our Waters in Motown: Great Lakes Restoration Conferencehttp://blog.nwf.org/2011/10/healing-our-waters-in-motown-great-lakes-restoration-conference/
http://blog.nwf.org/2011/10/healing-our-waters-in-motown-great-lakes-restoration-conference/#respondWed, 12 Oct 2011 17:53:20 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/?p=33420Motown is known for great music and keeping things moving on the assembly line. This week, hundreds of people from across the country are keeping things moving in Detroit to protect a unique and precious natural resource in the region.

Lake Michigan Beach

Detroit is hosting the Healing Our Waters® – Great Lakes Coalition’s 7th annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference. Lawmakers, scientists, clean water advocates, conservationists and others are discussing the challenges, game changers and safeguards for the world’s largest fresh water system. Green returns on blue investments, pollution, environmental justice, invasive Asian carp, off shore wind and organizing for clean and affordable water are just some of the conference workshops and highlights at the conference.

Even if you can’t join us for a session, you can still join us online. Detroit Public Television is streaming the events daily. You can watch the Great Lakes Restoration Conference live and on demand at www.healthylakes.org. You can also see updates from the conference on Twitter by following the hashtag #healthylakes.

The Great Lakes won’t stay great unless we help keep them clean, free of invasive species and healthy. This is why so many people are working on healing our waters in Motown and across the nation.

Click here to find out more about how the National Wildlife Federation works to protect and restore America’s waters, including the Great Lakes.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2011/10/healing-our-waters-in-motown-great-lakes-restoration-conference/feed/033420No More Delays on Climate Action, Enviro CEOs tell White Househttp://blog.nwf.org/2011/09/no-more-delays-on-climate-action-enviro-ceos-tell-white-house/
http://blog.nwf.org/2011/09/no-more-delays-on-climate-action-enviro-ceos-tell-white-house/#commentsTue, 20 Sep 2011 13:34:49 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/?p=31666Less than a week after the Environmental Protection Agency said it was delaying release of proposed new standards to rein in global warming pollution from new and existing power plants, 19 environmental leaders wrote President Barack Obama today urging a new schedule be issued. An open-ended and uncertain schedule for proposal and finalizing the rules is seen by many observers as an incremental step in favor of special interests and polluters that oppose climate action. The conservation groups want assurance that progress won’t stall before the end of next year.

Power plants are the nation’s largest source of dangerous carbon pollution.

Adding to the controversy, less than three weeks ago the administration shelved long needed action to reduce ozone and smog pollution that costs the nation billions.

This marks the second delay in fulfilling your administration’s promise, made in settlement of litigation and in representations to the Supreme Court, to address power plants’ enormous contribution to the air pollution that drives climate change.

A 2007 Supreme Court case confirmed that the Act, as passed by Congress, requires EPA to take action on controlling air pollution that leads to climate change. Now, after decades of federal inaction, the Obama administration seemed poised to move forward on this urgent issue, that is until last week.

The letter ends,

Accordingly, we ask that you reaffirm the administration’s commitment to issue strong standards that significantly reduce carbon emissions from both new and existing power plants as the Clean Air Act requires. We ask that the administration announce and stick to a remedial schedule requiring proposal of these standards without further delay and completion of them as soon as possible in 2012.

Your administration’s leadership in carrying out the law, without delay, is essential to securing a stronger, safer and more prosperous America.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson wants to hear from you on the anniversary of the Clean Air Act. (Official EPA portrait courtesy treehugger.com)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Clean Air Act Amendments later this year, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson wants to know what NWF and you think about it. In a few weeks we’ll post your questions and her answers right here.

A landmark piece of legislation that has led to significant environmental and public health benefits across the United States, the Clean Air Act was signed by President Richard Nixon on December 31, 1970 to foster the growth of a strong American economy and industry while improving human health and the environment.

President Richard Nixon recognized the Clean Air Act as a beginning, stating, “I think that 1970 will be known as the year of the beginning, in which we really began to move on the problems of clean air and clean water and open spaces for the future generations of America”.

Although significant progress has been made in improving the quality of the air in most U.S. cities and communities, there is more to be done over the next 40 years. After the Clean Air Act’s first 20 years, in 1990, it prevented more than 200,000 premature deaths, and almost 700,000 cases of chronic bronchitis were avoided. Over the last 20 years, total emissions of the six principal air pollutants have decreased by more than 41 percent, while the Gross Domestic Product has increased by more than 64 percent. Through continued innovation and successful implementation, the Clean Air Act will deliver even more benefits over the next 40 years.

Got a question for Administrator Jackson, drop me an email at iallonardot-at-nwf-dot-org or leave a comment on this post. Hope to hear from you!

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2010/10/clean-air-act-to-turn-40-epa-wants-to-hear-from-you/feed/26935Obama Goes to Copenhagen!http://blog.nwf.org/2009/12/obama-goes-to-copenhagen/
http://blog.nwf.org/2009/12/obama-goes-to-copenhagen/#respondTue, 01 Dec 2009 19:59:23 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/campusecology/2009/12/01/obama-goes-to-copenhagen/A day before Thanksgiving, President Obama gave us all a little something more to be thankful for by announcing that he will attend next week’s climate negotiations in Copenhagen. The announcement came after thousands of youth contacted the White House through the It’s Game Time Obama campaign, sponsored by Powershift ‘09, and through the NWF Action Center asking President Obama to take action on climate change.

His appearance at the talks is considered especially important given that healthcare continues to dominate the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has promised to move forward with healthcare reform hoping to hold votes in December. The timing of these votes could directly interfere with the Copenhagen meetings, preventing Senate climate leaders John Kerry (D-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) from traveling to Copenhagen and build support.

Obama’s announcement also coincides with the announcement of a provisional greenhouse gas emissions target for 2020 in the range of 17% below 2005 levels. These levels will be placed on the bargaining table at Copenhagen and closely parallel with levels included in the House climate bill passed earlier this year, as well as the Senate bill that will likely reach the floor in the spring.

Possibly due to the youth campaigns that have urged Obama to action,the White House will host a Clean Energy Economy Forum with youth leaders from around the country on Wednesday, December 2 from 4:00-7:00 pm. Campus Ecology’s own Praween Dayananda will be in attendance, along with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, and other Administration officials. The forum will address the benefits of the clean energy economy for younger generations and the role young Americans have in being leaders in and benefiting from those opportunities.

The forum will be webcast live here, and will also be open to the public through a Facebook application which allows the public to watch and discuss the event live. The White House will be keeping up with the chat, taking questions, and incorporating feedback from chat participants during the event.